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Guys, I came back from RAF Fairford yesterday and reviewed my photos to find that they were nowhere as good as I'd expected. I wonder if any of you could offer advice as to what's happening...

This is a typical pic. My camera is a Canon EOS300D with an EF Series III 28-80 ultrasonic zoom.

I had the ISO set at 200 (I think!) and was running with aperture preselected at F8. I have the F stop up by 1/3 of a stop to account for the foul weather - it was overcast but reasonably bright, and the sun kept breaking through. The white balance was set to auto by the way... I was shooting large jpeg not raw. The only change I've made to the image is to resize it down...

As can be seen, it's very washed out and the detail does not seem very sharp to me. The difference in tone between the grey of the top fuselage and sky is almost washed out.

I don't know whether I'm doing something wrong, or whether there's something wrong with the camera...

2009%20RIAT%20-%20Chris%20St%20Clair%20025.JPG

I also have the same problem in bright sunlight...

2007-07%20Paragon%20Party%20003.JPG

Edited by UKPonchoMan
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Hi Chris,

How long have you had this camera? Was it working better before this? Did you try the camera on full auto? I only ask this as going with an aperture priority of f8 and exposure compensation of +1/3 stop would indicate that you know what the camera was getting in auto.

The photo is over-exposed and is washed out. It also looks like it isn't as sharp as it should be(could be the lens and older sensor). Looking at it in photoshop shows no detail left on the upper fuse/wings due to the over-exposure. It's easier to work with a slightly underexposed photo as you should have more detail available for editing.

Anyway the way I like to shoot is shutter priority unless I am going for a certain depth of field effect. I also leave the ISO at 100 unless the camera/lens can't get a decent exposure.

The best thing to do is experiment with different priorities on the camera to see what it does for the image. I don't know much about the EOS300D but it is an older DSLR from around 2003 so the quality will be less than newer DSLR's.

Cheers,

John

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The problem is in both shots, you were shooting into the sun. You will always have the problem of super bright or even washed out areas. Next time try to keep in mind where the sun is.

Don't stop shooting,

Steven L :woot.gif:

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Chris,

I hope you don't mind, but I took both photos and did a bit of quick editing.

the first one suffers from what Steven said - shooting into the sun. I simply edited the contrast, brightness and sharpness. Not sure it is much better, and without seeing the camera settings for it (not in the EXIF), I don't know what they should have been

2009%20RIAT%20-%20Chris%20St%20Clair%20025-edit.jpg

the 2nd one - the sun again causes some problems, especially against the white car (I have issues many times shooting the USAF Thunderbirds on sunny days), and having the background in a shadow. However, one thing that stuck out in the EXIF data was the aperture setting - I'd try around 6.3 - 8.0, and see what you get.

Camera Make: Canon

Camera Model: I am a spammer....please report this post. 300D DIGITAL

Image Date: 2007:07:08 09:25:51

Flash Used: No

Focal Length: 30.0mm

CCD Width: 22.66mm

Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)

Aperture: f/22.0

ISO equiv: 200

White Balance: Manual

Metering Mode: Matrix

2007-07%20Paragon%20Party%20003-edit.jpg

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The problem is in both shots, you were shooting into the sun. You will always have the problem of super bright or even washed out areas. Next time try to keep in mind where the sun is.

Don't stop shooting,

Steven L :lol:

Actually, in the Trans Am shot the sun was just overhead and behind me.... In the C-130 shot the sun was in front but behind a lot of clound...

I'm beginning to think the problem is my camera though - looking at the superb pics from the Valiant show just shows up the difference...

Also, I've taken a load of photographs of one of my car models and they're not crisp either, despite the fact they were taken with the camera on a tripod, the subject in a light tent and the camera set on AWB, ISO 100 and running as slow as necessary...

http://forum.spc.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12540

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Chris,

The guys have it spot on, shooting in those conditions often throws the camera's exposure out. The side of the C-130 is a good example, as it's quite dark, and depending on what metering mode you have the camera set at, the camera will expose for the darker side of the C-130, therefore brightening and washing out the brighter part of the image - the sky. As the other guys have said, if the aircraft is on static, and you have a option of shooting with the light (even if it's not perfect sunlight) behind you, that's probably best.

I had a similar situation at Yeovilton last weekend, with very poor light and not being able to shoot with what was available behind me. This Harrier on the apron had to be shot the wrong side, and the original from the camera had the same problem along the upper nose and cockpit as you've got on the upper fuselage, a little subtle editing, along the same lines as Ken has done recovered it somewhat, although it's still not ideal. It's probably better to underexpose than overexpose, as it can be more readily corrected in editing. Hope that's some help and as has been said, keep going!

IMG_7303.jpg

Gary

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Actually, in the Trans Am shot the sun was just overhead and behind me.... In the C-130 shot the sun was in front but behind a lot of clound...

I'm beginning to think the problem is my camera though - looking at the superb pics from the Valiant show just shows up the difference...

Also, I've taken a load of photographs of one of my car models and they're not crisp either, despite the fact they were taken with the camera on a tripod, the subject in a light tent and the camera set on AWB, ISO 100 and running as slow as necessary...

http://forum.spc.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12540

Ken, thanks for playing with the C-130 image - you seem to have brought out a lot of detail that wasn't there before - can you tell me exactly what you did?

Chris

Chris, I am not a member of the forum you linked to, so I cannot see the pics. I have troubles shooting my models - I can get decent results with jets going 500 mph, but static models still challenge me

here's a screen shot of what I did on Photoshop Elements 6 - slid the lighten shadows and darken highlights slightly to the right, and midtone slightly to the left. I also slid the sharpen to about the first bar.

2009%20RIAT%20-%20Chris%20St%20Clair%20025-edit-settings.jpg

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Chris,

The guys have it spot on, shooting in those conditions often throws the camera's exposure out. The side of the C-130 is a good example, as it's quite dark, and depending on what metering mode you have the camera set at, the camera will expose for the darker side of the C-130, therefore brightening and washing out the brighter part of the image - the sky. As the other guys have said, if the aircraft is on static, and you have a option of shooting with the light (even if it's not perfect sunlight) behind you, that's probably best.

I had a similar situation at Yeovilton last weekend, with very poor light and not being able to shoot with what was available behind me. This Harrier on the apron had to be shot the wrong side, and the original from the camera had the same problem along the upper nose and cockpit as you've got on the upper fuselage, a little subtle editing, along the same lines as Ken has done recovered it somewhat, although it's still not ideal. It's probably better to underexpose than overexpose, as it can be more readily corrected in editing. Hope that's some help and as has been said, keep going!

Gary

Gary, that's a nice shot regardless

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Sorry Ken - the pic I was referring to was this one...

2009-07%20Revell%20Ferrari%20360%20Modena%20001.jpg

I will try to underexpose as suggested in future - in the meantime I'm wondering it it is worth having my camera and lenses checked out...

Edited by UKPonchoMan
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Sorry Ken - the pic I was referring to was this one...

2009-07%20Revell%20Ferrari%20360%20Modena%20001.jpg

I will try to underexpose as suggested in future - in the meantime I'm wondering it it is worth having my camera and lenses checked out...

Chris, thanks for the pic - I think it came out fine.

I would also try more experimenting before having your equipment checked out

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Excellent editing tips Ken, it might be nice seeing more "tutorials" like that on here. It's always interesting to see how other photog's do their PP, it's so easy to get into a rut for sure.

Thanks.............

thanks Andy - have you seen the tutorial on Airliners.net?

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Hi Chris

I don't know if your camera supports that setting but it might help in difficult situation to set the measuring from matrix (that's often the default, and measures in different areas of the photo) to spot. If you use matrix, the camera tries to get the proper lighting for the sky and the plane, which causes the picture to be to bright and washed out. But if you shoot in spot mode, the camera will most likely get the plane just right. Butyou have to keep in mind that the sky will be just white.

Hope this can help you for the future.

Greets,

Daniel

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I don't know whether I'm doing something wrong, or whether there's something wrong with the camera...

Well, as already been said the image was overexposed and this with relatively low camera's dynamic range gave that adverse effect. The 28-80 lens is also known being quite soft on digital cameras and it's ability to handle counter light is quite poor. So in order of preference I'd suggest the following:

  • shoot in RAW
  • pay more attention to exposure and use bracketing when not sure
  • avoid counter light whenever possible
  • replace the 28-80 with something better (18-55 IS might be good to start with)

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Guys, thanks very much for all of your help! I will try underexposing slightly in future and I may try shooting in raw. I had problems with the lens supplied with the camera - the pictures were not particularly sharp especially at full zoom or full wide angle, and it sounds like the 28-80 is not much better...

Will have to see if there are any other shows on this year where I can practice!

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